Best (and worst) beers you've ever had

[McLoofus 35,182]

2 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Ale Yeah! will probably be the best place for beer, I assume? I wasn’t all that impressed with Hop City ATL the one time I went. Don’t really remember much about Green’s or Tower. 

They were my favorite beer store because Eddie's a super good dude, they were fairly close to my house and it was just really a pleasant shopping experience. That also puts you close to Brick Store, Kimball House, Leon's, Steinbeck's and a couple other cool places and great restaurants in Decatur/Oakhurst/Kirkwood.

Green's and Tower always have really good selection. I've mainly been to the Green's on Ponce. Definitely more of a liquor barn vibe, but bonus points for having the hard stuff if you're so inclined.

I'm not a fan of Hop City. Can't quite put my finger on it. They've mostly been nice when I've been there. Just something about it. I dunno. But the one at Krog Street Market has a good beer bar. It's just that KSM tends to be a zoo overrun with the Inman Park $1000 stroller set. Lots of good food in there, though. You can grab a beer from Hop City to drink while you stand in line for a killer sandwich at Fred's.

Just depends on your parameters. 

Btw, the breweries can sell to go now, so consider working Scofflaw into your itinerary. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,367]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

They were my favorite beer store because Eddie's a super good dude, they were fairly close to my house and it was just really a pleasant shopping experience. That also puts you close to Brick Store, Kimball House, Leon's, Steinbeck's and a couple other cool places and great restaurants in Decatur/Oakhurst/Kirkwood.

Green's and Tower always have really good selection. I've mainly been to the Green's on Ponce. Definitely more of a liquor barn vibe, but bonus points for having the hard stuff if you're so inclined.

I'm not a fan of Hop City. Can't quite put my finger on it. They've mostly been nice when I've been there. Just something about it. I dunno. But the one at Krog Street Market has a good beer bar. It's just that KSM tends to be a zoo overrun with the Inman Park $1000 stroller set. Lots of good food in there, though. You can grab a beer from Hop City to drink while you stand in line for a killer sandwich at Fred's.

Just depends on your parameters. 

Btw, the breweries can sell to go now, so consider working Scofflaw into your itinerary. 

Good info. 

Scofflaw kind of turned me off with their response to people calling out their quality control. Basically told everyone to **** themselves and deal with it. This was probably 6 months to a year ago.

[Barnacle 9,064]

1 minute ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

I was there also. It’s one of my favorite Phish, and all time favorite concert experiences. The energy was insane. Fishman didn’t do too bad of a job on the vocals either. 

Really was a ton of fun, especially being on the 4th. The weather was great. A lot of friends were there. I drove up from Huntsville without a ticket and stood outside the lot with my finger up for a couple hours. Luckily made friends with a couple doing the same, and they found someone selling three. I honestly don't remember much about the show with it being 8 years ago except that it was a really good time. That was the last time I saw Phish. Come to think of it, every show I've seen them play was between 09' and 10' - which is only three times I'm pretty sure. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

7 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

Good info. 

Scofflaw kind of turned me off with their response to people calling out their quality control. Basically told everyone to **** themselves and deal with it. This was probably 6 months to a year ago.

That's fair. They turned a lot of people off. Probably would've turned me off, too, if I didn't know and like the guys. I definitely don't defend that attitude. 

Put Wrecking Bar on your lunch list, too. As far as a brewpub goes, it doesn't get much better anywhere. Both their beers and their food compete with the best in the area. No great bottle shops in the immediate area, although they're not terribly far from Green's on Ponce (and they're walkable to the Porter, which actually also has killer food and of course one of the best tap/bottle lists in the country).

 

[AuburnSoldier 117]

We had dinner at the Abita Brewpub tonight. We made it into town too late to tour the brewery. 

I had two excellent beers: Bad Mother Shucker Oyster Stout, and Baltic Porter. If I’d never tasted Purple Haze, Abita would be one of my favorite companies. But the two I had tonight brought me closer to forgiving them. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 hours ago, AuburnSoldier said:

We had dinner at the Abita Brewpub tonight. We made it into town too late to tour the brewery. 

I had two excellent beers: Bad Mother Shucker Oyster Stout, and Baltic Porter. If I’d never tasted Purple Haze, Abita would be one of my favorite companies. But the two I had tonight brought me closer to forgiving them. 

I remember when Mellow Mushroom first opened in Auburn and they brought Purple Haze to town. It was a watershed moment for craft beer in that town. My, how times have changed. How was the food?

[AuburnSoldier 117]

We didn’t go for any of the finer things on the menu, but what we had was really good. We had a crab cake appetizer, which was top notch. My wife enjoyed her burger (she orders them well-done, and the staff was attentive enough to get that right on the first try... a rarity). My Po-boy was big and tasty.  Oh, I almost forgot, I found a pearl in my sandwich. 

If you do like fancy food, they had boudin-stuffed quail and such. 

I’ll definitely go back if I’m passing through again. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

50 minutes ago, AuburnSoldier said:

We didn’t go for any of the finer things on the menu, but what we had was really good. We had a crab cake appetizer, which was top notch. My wife enjoyed her burger (she orders them well-done, and the staff was attentive enough to get that right on the first try... a rarity). My Po-boy was big and tasty.  Oh, I almost forgot, I found a pearl in my sandwich. 

If you do like fancy food, they had boudin-stuffed quail and such. 

I’ll definitely go back if I’m passing through again. 

Very nice! And I think I know what the protein was on your po-boy. 

Thanks for the report. I'll add it to the list. It's a long list for that town. 100 places I wish I could go back to and 1,000 more yet to try. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

We are doing the thing this weekend- corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, Irish whisky (and coffee), and 2 "Irish" beers- Guinness Extra Foreign Stout (supposed to be better than the standard brand, right?) and Coastal Empire's #SAVPARADEBEER (they're from Savannah), which is an Irish red ale. 

Anyone else?

[AUDub 11,153]

29 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

We are doing the thing this weekend- corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, Irish whisky (and coffee), and 2 "Irish" beers- Guinness Extra Foreign Stout (supposed to be better than the standard brand, right?) and Coastal Empire's #SAVPARADEBEER (they're from Savannah), which is an Irish red ale. 

Anyone else?

Foreign extra is actually a pretty good stout. Thin though.

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 minute ago, AUDub said:

Foreign extra is actually a pretty good stout. Thin though.

Yeah, I tend to assume that any Irish/British stout is going to be compared to ours. 

Just about any beer will do this weekend, really. 

 

[AUld fAUx@ 2,584]

58 minutes ago, McLoofus said:

We are doing the thing this weekend- corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, Irish whisky (and coffee), and 2 "Irish" beers- Guinness Extra Foreign Stout (supposed to be better than the standard brand, right?) and Coastal Empire's #SAVPARADEBEER (they're from Savannah), which is an Irish red ale. 

Anyone else?

As I recently posted elsewhere, I think it'll Dew.

Besides, family lore of Irish indicates that they stole our horses for centuries.

[McLoofus 35,182]

4 minutes ago, AUld fAUx@ said:

As I recently posted elsewhere, I think it'll Dew.

Besides, family lore of Irish indicates that they stole our horses for centuries.

Evidently my Scottish ancestors weren't of much better character and thus moved south and became Irish. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

Interesting write-up of 3 macro-craft (maybe? no?) NEIPAs made moreso by the philosophical opining, IMO.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/new-england-ipas-are-officially-mainstream-and-its.html

[AUDub 11,153]

2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Interesting write-up of 3 macro-craft (maybe? no?) NEIPAs made moreso by the philosophical opining, IMO.

https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2018/03/new-england-ipas-are-officially-mainstream-and-its.html

Speaking of which

Think that little review has it about right, loof. More rind than flesh. 

[AUDub 11,153]

Good People Hitchhiker. Meh.

[ShocksMyBrain 9,367]

3 hours ago, AUDub said:

Good People Hitchhiker. Meh.

Other than Snake Handler, I can’t say that I’ve had anything else from them that really sticks with me. Their IPA is serviceable I guess. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,367]

4 hours ago, AUDub said:

Speaking of which

Think that little review has it about right, loof. More rind than flesh. 

I agree that NB is the best iteration of the big brewery NEIPA attempts. I believe I might have even said so recently before this article was posted.

[Tiger Refuge 6,670]

15 minutes ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

I agree that NB is the best iteration of the big brewery NEIPA attempts. I believe I might have even said so recently before this article was posted.

I’ll keep an eye out. I’ve been quite dismissive of both NB and SA in the last couple of years. 

[AUDub 11,153]

OK, I've had too many. First our game, then the first time a 16 has ever upset a 1. I need Advil and water...

[McLoofus 35,182]

8 hours ago, AUDub said:

OK, I've had too many. First our game, then the first time a 16 has ever upset a 1. I need Advil and water...

Hair of the dog for me. Irish coffee. The Sexton is a pretty good Irish whiskey at a reasonable price. Big caramel flavor for me. Better than Jameson at least. Not that I have any hate for Cousin Jamie.

Oh, and the Extra Foreign Stout is outstanding.

[AUDub 11,153]

Just a reminder that no matter how bad my head feels this morning, UVA fans feel worse. 

[AUDub 11,153]

11 hours ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

I agree that NB is the best iteration of the big brewery NEIPA attempts. I believe I might have even said so recently before this article was posted.

You did. I looked around for it yesterday. Nothing doing. I’d like it to get down here, we get so few NEIPAs. 

[ShocksMyBrain 9,367]

2 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Hair of the dog for me. Irish coffee. The Sexton is a pretty good Irish whiskey at a reasonable price. Big caramel flavor for me. Better than Jameson at least. Not that I have any hate for Cousin Jamie.

Oh, and the Extra Foreign Stout is outstanding.

We did a Jameson tasting yesterday of the regular, IPA Caskmates, Stout Caskmates, and Black Barrel. 

Black Barrel, Stout, IPA, regular in order of best to worst imo. 

If you like Sexton, try the Black Barrel. Black Barrel is finished in double charred bourbon barrels I believe. 

Similar note, we got in our store single barrel of Woodford and it’s fantastic. We’ve got a store barrel of Double Oaked on the way, which I’m really looking forward to. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

1 hour ago, ShocksMyBrain said:

We did a Jameson tasting yesterday of the regular, IPA Caskmates, Stout Caskmates, and Black Barrel. 

Black Barrel, Stout, IPA, regular in order of best to worst imo. 

If you like Sexton, try the Black Barrel. Black Barrel is finished in double charred bourbon barrels I believe. 

Similar note, we got in our store single barrel of Woodford and it’s fantastic. We’ve got a store barrel of Double Oaked on the way, which I’m really looking forward to. 

Almost grabbed the stout variant but went with the Sexton instead. Will try Black Barrel.